IT Professionals

Powering Off Goes Wrong

Posted by on Jul 15, 2008 | 9 Comments

Today Kevin asks,

I was browsing on the Web when my computer froze-it stopped responding completely. I shut the power off on my UPS and then turned it back on,  at which time my hard drive and fan began spinning and blowing about as hard as they could go. It sounded as if a small jet engine was winding up. My screen went to black after the initial “Dell Display Perfection” message appeared. The power button on the case is not green but glows orange, and the button does not work-the machine simply does not respond. I can only turn the power off on the UPS. The machine is a Dell Dimension 8400 running Windows XP Home Edition. Any suggestions?

Couple of things come to mind. First, even though killing the power at the UPS is not the greatest approach from a hardware perspective, it sounds like the video card is still getting a signal. This is good and honestly, based on what you are describing, I am leaning with an OS related issue.

I would just start with this selection of resolutions. They range from removing CDs down to actually repairing the installation of the OS. Because in the end, based on what you are describing, you appears to still have working hardware.

Do you have an IT-related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt!” Please address comments to the comments section above, my email address is for questions – thanks!

  • leftystrat

    if the power button is orange and blinks, your motherboard or cpu is toasted. Call Dell service either way or check their website for troubleshooting tips.

    I saw tons of this at work.

  • http://www.utm.edu/staff/tmartin Tommy

    Kevin said – “The power button on the case is not green but glows orange”. On a Dell, an amber power LED is an indication of a bad power supply.

  • Chad

    Kevin’s problem sounds like a power supply issue. I work on Dell PCs and this exact problem happens probably once a month.
    Unplug the power cord from the PC and hold the power button in on the front of the case for 10-20 seconds. Plug the power cord back in and push the power button to turn it on. You may have to repeat this sequence a couple times. If the PC powers up like normal after these steps, you need a new power supply.
    Hope this helps.

  • Randy Reimers

    It still may be the motherboard or power supply. The words “Dell Display Perfection” may be the monitors powering up – I know my Dell monitors display a message from Dell on power-up, and who knows what the newer or other models may have displayed on power-up? The fact that the power button on the case goes orange, and not to normal green state, points to a hardware failure. If the hard drives and fans stay at “jet engine” speeds – you have a hardware failure, probably motherboard, could be one part of the power supply.

  • David McElrea

    The power light switching from green to amber indicates a motherboard or power supply fault. It is most likely the mother board but he should test the power supply before calling dell. hope this helps.

  • Dan Burch

    You may try this: While your computer is running, press and hold the power on button for at least 4 seconds. My HP documentation says to do this if normal shutdown does not respond. I don’t know if Dell computers respond to this feature or you may need to press and hold for a few seconds longer.

  • Jonathan Easterling

    when i encounter a weird start up problem things like power button not working or the machine half starting after a ‘power up issue’ like a power failure or surge i try this it works surprisingly well
    disconnect the power cord (if it is a laptop pull the battery also) then hold the power button down for a minute this drains the residual charges on any capacitors on the mother board and power supply (some of the filter caps in the power supply and mother board can hold a charge for a week before it gets low enough to re start the computer on its own)

  • http://www.matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    I think what I find most troubling is the total trust in Dell documentation regarding the whole Amber light thing.

    Yes, technically this is spot on – I would agree that this is often the case. The symptoms would seem to match up for CPU or motherboard error. PSU on the other hand, I am not so sure about without actual inspection.

    But if I have also ended up with boxes where hardware fault was assumed without actually following up on the os side first. Yes, this included Dell boxes. This way it is 100% vs 99%. Maybe I am old fashion, but to me this just seems like too much trust is being put into something leaving me wondering.

    Would you be the kind of tech to not even bother testing to see if that silly amber light alert might be off? I mean, hello – S.M.A.R.T. disk technology? There was a big joke as everything set that off and it was sort of the same idea. Verify, verify, verify. ;)

  • DJBerry

    I had a similar ptoblem on my Optiplex GX620. The problem turned out to be the USB dock for my phone. Apparently the phone dock was supplying power to the USB cable and feeding back into the motherboard through the USB port. Unplugging the USB cable corrected the problem.